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SEO
Best practices for on-page and external SEO, marketing and PR strategies to boost search engine rankings, e.g. backlinking, keyword research, online business listings. "The underlying principles stay the same: Don’t try to trick search engines. Instead, provide your visitors with a great online experience. To do that, follow search engine guidelines and fulfill user intent." - MOZ Seo Guide "SEO makes sense when enough qualified staff, time and budget are available. In some sectors, competition is extremely high." - E-Mail Marketing Forum Resources and Tools Information * Feb 27 2019: Google launches Domain Property in GSC * In-depth SEO whitepaper, Feb 2019 (in German) * SEO: the Moz SEO guide is highly popular and useful for laypeople SEO Test Tools * SEO Tester Online (in English) * Neil Patel's Ubersuggest SEO audit * SEObility audit, but in German * Google SEO Tools: huge tool suite!! but in German * Seorch (pretty much all you need, but in German!) ** They also have several SEO tools, like SERP checker Other test tools * Accessibility: A11y color contrast checker * HTTP security check: securityheaders.com and Mozilla Observatory ** Observatory's results aren't trustworthy, they contradict securityheaders.com and give false negatives * Code integrity: W3 Validator Various * SEMRush to identify strong keywords * Google Analytics by Yoast: analytics, also speed test * GeoPeeker: view your site from various geographic locations * Gzip encoding checker Speed Testing * Load Impact (simulates massive traffic) * GTMetrix (includes service for compressing images!) * WebPageTest (allows setting location to test from) Code tweaks, WP plugins * Speed optimization: Breeze ** Tutorial video: how to set it up * HTTP Security Headers ready-made for .htaccess Is SEO worth it? * Want to be found in the short term? Use Google AdWords * Ask yourself ** How important are better rankings and more users really? Are there other avenues? ** How important will SEO be compared to other marketing techniques you use? (source) Is it profitable? Ask yourself: * Do I have a clear SEO goal? ** Target audience? Product focus: how to reach them? Customer benefit? ** Use this knowledge for keyword research: terms to aim SEO at ** Clicks are just the first steps. Conversion needs to follow! * Are we allocating enough time? ** Unpaid (organic) rankings take weeks to months! ** If there's no time for patience, other marketing methods may be required * How does competition look? ** Competitors should become visible during keyword research ** Comparison portals, online marketplaces, review platforms etc. count among these too ** Will we be able to kick a competitor out of the top 10 rankings? * How can existing marketing strategies work with SEO? ** e.g., use keyword research from existing ad campaigns ** Tie into IRL events (e.g. expos) e.g. using newsletters, social media * Who will be responsible for SEO? ** Has to have the necessary knowledge and be willing to evolve ** If outsourcing, this person needs to be an interface to third party * Is there a sufficiently large budget? ** Staff, timeframe, training, coaching, consultation, SEO agency - these cost money ** Easily 1,000 € or more per month whether agency or DIY - can you justify this much? Does your projected increased income make this sustainable? ** You might get faster results through AdWords, Facebook Ads Intro, Terminology, General Knowledge (Moz's SEO Guide) * SEO Factors in order of importance *# Crawl accessibility *# Compelling content that answers queries *# Keyword optimized *# Great user experience (load speed, ease of use, UI) *# Share-worthy content *# Title, URL, description *# Snippet/schema markup to stand out in SERPs * Organic search results vs. advertising ** Organic: earned through effective SEO ** SERP features like pizza recommendations, weather forecast can be organic ** Organic results are more credible. Only 2.8% of people click on ads in US! ** Really good content can generate traffic for a long time through word of mouth * Guiding principles ** (From Google, Bing) ** Make pages for users, not search engines ** Create deep, engaging, easy-to-find content with clear, relevant titles ** Don't deceive ** Avoid tricks! Ask: "Does this help my users?" ** Consider what makes your site unique, valuable, engaging ** Search engines notice: *** Links - they're a signal of popularity *** Social sharing *** Page speed *** Alt attributes on images *** Abusive link tactics: buying links, link schemes *** Thin/automatically generated content *** Clean, concise URLs with keywords and no non-letter characters ** Avoid automatically generated content ** Avoid keyword stuffing ** Avoid duplicate content ** Avoid pages with little to no original content (e.g. copied) ** Avoid cloaking (showing search engines different content than users) ** Avoid hidden text and links ** Avoid "doorway pages" created to rank well and funnel people to website * Google My Business for local businesses (sees customers face-to-face) User Intent * tbd Odds and Ends * There is no magic switch to get to the #1 spot in Google! ** Google constantly adapts and develops its algorithm and doesn't reveal how ** SEO experts always have to stay up to date! The landscape changes! * 2 areas of focus: external '''and '''on-site optimization ** External: improving traffic generated to site (social media, blogs, search engines, aggregators: Slideshare, syndication: Business Insider) ** On-Site: engage and keep visitors. Load times, useful content, responsiveness, ease of conversion * Interesting: IP/server location doesn't matter for SEO and target audience! ** Google has a Geotargeting tool in Google Webmaster Tools * Social Media rankings (likes, retweets etc.) influence search results * Pack my articles with keywords '''to generate traffic ** Search engines need to understand the text (clearly readable, not metaphors or such) ** Don't sacrifice human readability and flow in favour of it, though * Apart from that: create '''quality content that people will enjoy and share! * Consequently: please both search spiders and people OpenGraph for Social Media * Introduction and Beginner's Guide * In-depth research on the subject by Yoast (Apr 30, 2018) Keyword Research * Find out which terms for a product/service are searched for how often on Google * Building Backlinks Business directories, yellow pages tbd Other avenues tbd On-Page SEO Meta Titles/Descriptions Articles by Yoast: Site/page title / Meta descriptions Title: * Google has a fixed pixel width for how much title it displays ** Length checking tool on SEORCH ** Depending on device/screen size ** So you could have less w's but more i's * Put most important keywords towards beginning of title * Write it so it entices people to click * Brand name should be included in the title - Google looks for it * Title can be written differently for social media (e.g. w/o brand name) Description: * 155 characters * Actionable, in active voice * Includes CTA * Contains focus keyword * Shows specifications (if product) * Matches page content * Unique File names: * Images/media: make sure file names are descriptive and relevant Tracking/Analytics * Jan 2015: most important metrics ** Hits/visits/page views *** aka engagement *** web traffic ** Followers/friends ** Sales *** Profits/revenues per customer * Social media continues to be highly important